essentially mandated by law since they“are so much inclined to acquire
possessions that they publiclyfine anyone who has diminished his possessions
and confer honors on anyone who has increased them.”The Nabataeans were
rivals of Ptolemaic Egypt, but they were wise enough not to challenge the
might of Rome when it arrived in the area.
The Roman presence brought changes as well as accelerated trends already
present. A Roman army attacked and sacked Eudaimon Arabia, and traffic
shifted to Muza on the north side of the Bab el-Mandeb where the Romans
exercised better control. During the reign of Augustus the Romans made an
attempt to conquer Arabia because, according to Strabo, the Arabs“were
very wealthy, and they sold aromatics and the most valuable stones for gold
and silver, but never expended with outsiders any part of what they received
in exchange; for he [Augustus] expected either to deal with wealthy friends
or to master wealthy enemies.” However, a Nabataean official serving as
guide took the Romans on a wild goose chase for six months, during which
at one point they came within two days’journey of reaching the land where
myrrh was produced. Finally they turned around and returned to Egypt. The
sources of myrrh and frankincense would remain outside imperial control.
Nevertheless, under the new conditions Arab middlemen began to be
bypassed, and the long, laborious haul up the Incense Road was used less
and less. Petra had offered shelter and protection to caravans, a service the
Romans rendered obsolete. Although the Nabataeans controlled two ports on
the Red Sea, once maritime trade from Egypt to the Indian Ocean became
fully developed, the fortunes of their kingdom began a slow slide. Strabo
notes that in his own time, commerce had already shifted from the Petra-to-
Phoenicia route to the Red Sea-to-Alexandria route. In 363CEan earthquake
destroyed half of Petra, which lingered on to the seventh century when it
wasfinally abandoned.
The Red Sea ends at the Bab el-Mandeb, where its opposite shores scrunch
together almost touching. Ships generally stopped on one side or the other to
take on fresh water before heading into the ocean. Some trade took place
here, mostly in frankincense, myrrh, and Arabian wine for resale in India.
Smaller, lighter ships adapted to Red Sea conditions went no farther. They
did circuits, transferring their goods at Arabian and African ports, where
they were reloaded onto ocean-going vessels or transshipped to inland car-
avan routes. Local and Indian goods were picked up for the voyage back to
Egypt.
Once ships had passed through the Bab and out into the Gulf of Aden,
they could head in three directions: south, along the African coast, turning
abruptly at the Promontory of Spices (Cape Guardafui) to cruise down the
eastern side of the continent; northeast, paralleling the Arabian coast and
eventually to northern India; or due east, across open waters, turning south
to catch the tip of southern India. Ships bound on thefirst course would
make for the north Somali coast, which thePeriplusrefers to as“Far-Side
102 Following thePeriplus